The Old Vic Theatre has received 20 allegations of inappropriate behavior by Kevin Spacey during his 11-year run as artistic director. The London theater admitted that there was a “cult of personality” around the Swimming With Sharks star and that his “stardom” and “status” may have prevented people, in particular junior staff or young actors, from feeling that they could speak up.

The theater released the results of its investigation, run by law firm Lewis Silkin, after launching an anonymous hotline last month to allow staff and actors to speak out.

It found that 16 staff and four others came forward with a number of allegations against Spacey between 1995 and 2013.

It added that the majority of the allegations happened before 2009. However, the Waterloo theater revealed that no “legal claims, formal grievances, formal disputes, settlement agreements or payments” were made in relation to Spacey during this period.

The Old Vic noted that in all but one case, these individuals alleging inappropriate behavior did not come forward at the time or asked that no formal action be taken.

“During his tenure, The Old Vic was in a unique position of having a Hollywood star at the helm around whom existed a cult of personality. The investigation found that his stardom and status at The Old Vic may have prevented people, and in particular junior staff or young actors, from feeling that they could speak up or raise a hand for help,” it noted in a statement.

Current Artistic Director Matthew Warchus said the allegations were a “shock and a disturbing surprise to many of us”.

“I have genuine and deep sympathy for all those who have come forward and said they were hurt in some way by my predecessor’s actions. Everyone is entitled to work in an environment free from harassment and intimidation. The Old Vic is now actively engaged in the process of healing and the process of prevention.

“It is incorrect, unfair and irresponsible to say that everybody knew. But as a result of the investigation, what we have learnt is how better to call out this behaviour in future.

“These findings will help not only The Old Vic but our industry as a whole, as together we rapidly evolve an intelligent new standard of protection and support in and around the workplace. We are committed to a new way forward.”

The Old Vic Chairman Nick Clarry apologized to the victims. “Inappropriate behavior by anyone working at The Old Vic is completely unacceptable. We will foster a safe and supportive environment without prejudice, harassment or bullying of any sort, at any level. We want anyone who works here to feel confident, valued and proud to be part of The Old Vic family,” he added.

A woman has come forward saying that in 1986 when she was 16 she had consensual sex with a 40 year old Sylvester Stallone in his hotel room while he was filming Over the Top but he then then forced her to have sex with him and his bodyguard............

A number of actresses and female crew members from E!’s The Royals are speaking out in the wake of series creator/showrunner Mark Schwahn’s suspension from the popular E! series following a slew of sexual harassment allegations against him made by the female cast and crew of his previous series, One Tree Hill.

In a joint statement to Deadline signed by 25 crew members and actresses — series regular Merritt Patterson and guest-starring/recurring players — they accuse Schwahn of “repeated unwanted sexual harassment of multiple female members of cast and crew.” The women of The Royals say that they were inspired by their OTH counterparts who wrote a similar joint statement on Monday supporting former OTH writer Audrey Wauchope’s accusations of sexual harassment against former One Tree Hill creator and showrunner Schwahn.

Today’s letter also follows a statement issued last night by The Royals series regular Alexandra Park, in which she said that “I too, have been exposed to this reprehensible behavior.”

The Royals star Elizabeth Hurley came out with her own statement this morning, saying that the accusations of sexual harassment against Shcwahn were “a shocking surprise” to her and that she “never witnessed it.”

Here is the full statement from 25 Royals female actors and crew members:

Upon reading a statement from the ladies of One Tree Hill, a statement from their Royal sisters could not possibly go unwritten.

Despite hearing rumours about his behaviour on One Tree Hill, those of us involved from the early stages went into the filming of the pilot hoping they were just that – rumours. By the time we wrapped this had irrevocably proven not to be the case. It became all too apparent reading their statement earlier this week that the betrayal and anger so many of us had experienced during our time on The Royals is not exclusively ours. And we were angry then, and we are angry now.

This statement is a collection of voices from those women involved in The Royals who would like to finally respond to the behaviour of our showrunner. Who felt the inclination to abuse his power and influence in an environment where he had it over women who felt they did not. This manifested itself in the repeated unwanted sexual harassment of multiple female members of cast and crew.

Where we should have been excited to meet new female cast and crew members, we felt nauseating concern in case they too should have him track down their mobile number. Where we should have offered our friends who auditioned for The Royals scene help and advice, we offered warnings about the man they would meet in the room. More than all of this, where we should all collectively have felt pride over jobs hard won and roles much loved, we felt undermined as artists and creatives. And in many cases, no more than a sum of body attributes.

Whilst voraciously condemning the actions of one man, we would like to make note of our gratitude to others. Thank you to so many of the Royal men who ensured we were never alone in social situations with him and took two steps towards us for his every one. Thank you to the friends, loved ones and partners who supported us at the time and ever more so now in coming forwards.

But thank you most of all to the women of One Tree Hill, whose solid gold backbones have moved us enormously. To you we doff our crowns.

“One Tree Hill” star Hilarie Burton detailed sexual assault allegations against showrunner Mark Schwahn on Friday, saying that he forced himself upon her on multiple occasions, once while on a call with then-CW President Dawn Ostroff.

Burton said in an interview with Variety that Schwahn began pursuing an inappropriate relationship with her in the show’s third season, when he decided that she was “his muse.” Then, while on location during filming of the show’s fourth season, he kissed Burton in a limo while pitching the show’s fifth season to the network.

“I’m leaning in listening, and when it’s Dawn Ostroff’s turn to talk, he just leans over and starts kissing me,” she said. “I push him off, but I can’t say anything, because he’s on the phone fighting for our show to stay on the air. I’m just in this position where I’m thinking, ‘You’ve got to take it, Hil. Just laugh it off. You’ll get to Wilmington [North Carolina] in 45 minutes.'”

She also said that Schwahn stuck his hand in her pants in 2006, which was corroborated by Burton’s co-star Danneel Ackles, and that he kissed her at a party for the show’s cast and crew.

After Burton told him to stop making inappropriate contact with the women on the show, Burton told Variety that he “screamed” at her for half an hour. “He went crazy,” she said. “I know exactly what this man’s hands look like, and they are my f—ing nightmare. I think of hands when I think of him, because they were relentless.”

Ackles also spoke to Variety about Schwahn’s relentless pursuit of a relationship with her, including showing up to her apartment and refusing to leave. Several writers also spoke out against Schwahn’s behavior, saying that he repeatedly sexualized the women on staff and made inappropriate contact.

Former “One Tree Hill” writer Audrey Wauchope was the first to accuse Schwahn of misbehavior on Twitter earlier this week. However, she was soon backed up by the female stars of the hit show, including Sophia Bush, Burton and Bethany Joy Lenz, who released a joint statement saying they had also been “psychologically and emotionally” by the showrunner, calling it “an open secret.”

“Many of us were, to varying degrees, manipulated psychologically and emotionally. More than one of us is still in treatment for post-traumatic stress,” the statement read. “Many of us were put in uncomfortable positions and had to swiftly learn to fight back, sometimes physically, because it was made clear to us that the supervisors in the room were not the protectors they were supposed to be.

“Many of us were spoken to in ways that ran the spectrum from deeply upsetting, to traumatizing, to downright illegal. And a few of us were put in positions where we felt physically unsafe. More than one woman on our show had her career trajectory threatened.”

Schwahn was later suspended from his current E! series “The Royals” as the network and producers launched an investigation into his behavior.

A total of 25 female cast and crew members of “The Royals” issued their own statement accusing Schwahn of similar behavior.

“Despite hearing rumours about his behaviour on One Tree Hill, those of us involved from the early stages went into the filming of the pilot hoping they were just that – rumours. By the time we wrapped this had irrevocably proven not to be the case,” the letter read.

The Guardian calls the list “an extraordinary attempt to discover what they knew about sexual misconduct claims against him”

Harvey Weinstein drew up a secret hitlist of 91 actors, publicists, producers, and other notable figures in the film industry for his private investigators to target, according to a report in The Guardian.

The British paper reported Saturday that it had “gained access to a secret hitlist of almost 100 prominent individuals targeted by Harvey Weinstein in an extraordinary attempt to discover what they knew about sexual misconduct claims against him and whether they were intending to go public.”

Among those on the list were Rose McGowan, who was among the first to speak out about Weinstein last month, when the New York Times and New Yorker first reported on a slew of sexual misconduct complaints against him. Weinstein has said no non-consensual sex occurred.

The list also includes Weinstein employees Laura Madden, Lauren O’Connor and Zelda Perkins, all of whom have spoken out against him, as well as actresses Sophie Dix, Annabella Sciorra and Katherine Kendall.

Curiously, director Brett Ratner, who has also been accused of sexual misconduct, is also on the list. He has denied wrongdoing.

The names were apparently drawn up by Weinstein himself in early 2017, around nine months before the New York Times published its Oct. 5 story, the Guardian said.

The list includes 85 names on one document, with six names on an an addendum, according to the Guardian.

Earlier this month, the New Yorker reported on how Weinstein used an “army of spies,” including former Israeli Mossad agents, to spy on reporters and people who might speak out against him.

John Lasseter’s Leave Of Absence At Disney/Pixar Comes As Women Detail Unwanted Behavior

UPDATED with more details:John Lasseter, the architect of Pixar and Disney’s juggernaut animation operations, is taking a leave of absence from his post effective immediately.

He holds the title Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, and Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering.

In a memo to staffers this morning obtained by Deadline, Lasseter wrote he was taking a six-month sabbatical after admitting to “missteps,” and apologizing “to anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of an unwanted hug or any other gesture they felt crossed the line in any way, shape, or form.” (Read the full memo below.)

The news comes amid a wave of allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault in Hollywood, which began with exposes of Harvey Weinstein in the New York Times and New Yorker early last month and has spread far and wide.

“We are committed to maintaining an environment in which all employees are respected and empowered to do their best work,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement. “We appreciate John’s candor and sincere apology and fully support his sabbatical.”

The Hawaiian-shirt wearing Lasseter is a larger-than-life figure on the Disney lot as the acknowledged creative force behind Pixar and as the visionary who helped revitalize the once-struggling Walt Disney Animation Studios. Many view him as a successor to Walt Disney himself — someone with a childlike sensibility and a passion for animation and the theme parks. (He has creative oversight of all films and associated projects from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios and Disneytoon Studios along with the Imagineering group.)

But Lasseter’s name also has been mentioned in the context of inappropriate or uninvited behavior.

One woman who worked with Lasseter described him as a very tactile person who expresses himself in weird, uncomfortable ways. Many published profiles of the bearish animator note that he’s known for his hugs — though he’s known for embracing women for awkwardly long periods of time.

“He was like a creepy, geeky uncle who was inappropriate,” said the woman, who requested anonymity.

Female executives at the Emeryville studio also practice a defensive maneuver that’s known as the “head turn.” When Lasseter reaches in for an uninvited kiss, you turn your head so he plants a kiss on your cheek, instead.

Lasseter, who founded Pixar with Ed Catmull, directed the Pixar-launching Toy Story in 1995 which earned a Special Achievement Oscar, and he has executive produced all Pixar features since 2001’s Monsters, Inc. The studio has won eight Oscars and its films have earned more than $10 billion in global box office. He also directed A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Cars and Cars 2.

Today’s news comes as Pixar’s latest tentpole, Coco, readies to hit theaters tomorrow for the long Thanksgiving Day weekend.Here’s the full memo:

I have always wanted our animation studios to be places where creators can explore their vision with the support and collaboration of other gifted animators and storytellers. This kind of creative culture takes constant vigilance to maintain. It’s built on trust and respect, and it becomes fragile if any members of the team don’t feel valued. As a leader, it’s my responsibility to ensure that doesn’t happen; and I now believe I have been falling short in this regard.

I’ve recently had a number of difficult conversations that have been very painful for me. It’s never easy to face your missteps, but it’s the only way to learn from them. As a result, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the leader I am today compared to the mentor, advocate and champion I want to be. It’s been brought to my attention that I have made some of you feel disrespected or uncomfortable. That was never my intent. Collectively, you mean the world to me, and I deeply apologize if I have let you down. I especially want to apologize to anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of an unwanted hug or any other gesture they felt crossed the line in any way, shape, or form. No matter how benign my intent, everyone has the right to set their own boundaries and have them respected.

In my conversations with Disney, we are united in our commitment to always treat any concerns you have with the seriousness they deserve, and to address them in an appropriate manner. We also share a desire to reinforce the vibrant, respectful culture that has been the foundation of our studios’ success since the beginning. And we agree the first step in that direction is for me to take some time away to reflect on how to move forward from here. As hard as it is for me to step away from a job I am so passionate about and a team I hold in the highest regard, not just as artists but as people, I know it’s the best thing for all of us right now. My hope is that a six-month sabbatical will give me the opportunity to start taking better care of myself, to recharge and be inspired, and ultimately return with the insight and perspective I need to be the leader you deserve.

I’m immensely proud of this team, and I know you will continue to wow the world in my absence. I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and look forward to working together again in the new year.

According to our sister site Variety, NBC investigated Beghe last year after receiving multiple complaints about the actor’s volatile behavior on set. He was subsequently reprimanded and assigned a coach to help him deal with his anger management issues. Variety says Beghe’s “behavior played into [Bush]’s decision to leave” the series.

“When it was brought to our attention that there were concerns about inappropriate behavior on set, we promptly began an investigation in partnership with Human Resources and all parties involved,” said representatives for NBC, Universal Television and Wolf Entertainment in a statement. “As a result of the investigation, we have already taken action, and it is a situation we continue to monitor very closely to ensure all of our employees feel safe and supported.”

Beghe, meanwhile, released his own statement acknowledging his anger management issues. “I am deeply sorry for my behavior, which I know has been hurtful to my friends and colleagues,” he said. “I have struggled with anger issues for some time, and over the past year, I have been working with a coach to help me learn how to mitigate my temper. It’s an ongoing process, and it has been a humbling one. It is a source of great pride for me to be part of Chicago P.D.’s incredible cast and crew. I have personally apologized to anyone who I have upset, and I am committed to doing what is necessary to make up any damage that I may have caused.”

Back in October, Bush cryptically addressed her P.D. departure for the first time on social media. “Took me a long time and a lot of hard work to get out of that show,” she wrote. “I left because I wanted to. End of story.”

Jeffrey Tambor, who played Maura Pfefferman on Amazon’s “Transparent,” has exited the series amid sexual harassment allegations against the actor.

“Playing Maura Pfefferman on ‘Transparent’ has been one of the greatest privileges and creative experiences of my life,” the Emmy-winning actor said in a statement to Variety. “What has become clear over the past weeks, however, is that this is no longer the job I signed up for four years ago.”

“I’ve already made clear my deep regret if any action of mine was ever misinterpreted by anyone as being aggressive, but the idea that I would deliberately harass anyone is simply and utterly untrue,” Tambor said. “Given the politicized atmosphere that seems to have afflicted our set, I don’t see how I can return to ‘Transparent.’”

Tambor was accused of sexual harassment by his former personal assistant, a trans woman named Van Barnes, in a private Facebook post on Nov. 8, causing Amazon to open an investigation into the allegations. On Thursday, guest star Trace Lysette came forward with further alleged instances of inappropriate behavior.

“I am aware that a former disgruntled assistant of mine has made a private post implying that I had acted in an improper manner toward her,” Tambor said in a statement obtained by Variety at the time of Barnes’ allegations. “I adamantly and vehemently reject and deny any and all implication and allegation that I have ever engaged in any improper behavior toward this person or any other person I have ever worked with. I am appalled and distressed by this baseless allegation.”

Tambor released a second statement following Lysette’s allegations.

“For the past four years, I’ve had the huge privilege — and huge responsibility – of playing Maura Pfefferman, a transgender woman, in a show that I know has had an enormous, positive impact on a community that has been too long dismissed and misunderstood. Now I find myself accused of behavior that any civilized person would condemn unreservedly,” the statement reads.

“I know I haven’t always been the easiest person to work with. I can be volatile and ill-tempered, and too often I express my opinions harshly and without tact. But I have never been a predator – ever,” Tambor continued. “I am deeply sorry if any action of mine was ever misinterpreted by anyone as being sexually aggressive or if I ever offended or hurt anyone. But the fact is, for all my flaws, I am not a predator and the idea that someone might see me in that way is more distressing than I can express.”

The team behind “Transparent” had already begun planning a way to continue the show without Tambor once the allegations broke. No final decision about next season has been made by Amazon.

The writers room, led by new showrunner Jill Gordon, is still in the process of planning Season 5, which is set to debut next year. “There’s momentum on the inside to continue without Jeffrey Tambor,” a source told Variety on Friday.

Uma Thurman took to Instagram on Thanksgiving to post a cryptic #MeToo message and called out Harvey Weinstein in the process.

“I am grateful today, to be alive, for all those I love, and for all those who have the courage to stand up for others,” the actress said in her message.

“I said I was angry recently, and I have a few reasons, #metoo, in case you couldn’t tell by the look on my face,” she continued an apparent reference to her response to a question about sexual misconduct in a “Access Hollywood” interview two weeks ago.

While she didn’t make any specific accusations, she wished a happy Thanksgiving to everyone except disgraced indie mogul Harvey Weintstein and what she called his “wicked conspirators.” She said she’s glad his downfall is “going slowly.”

“You don’t deserve a bullet,” she added, before hinting at further revelations.

“Stay tuned,” concluded the actress, who dropped CAA as her agency earlier this week.

Thurman has worked several times with Weinstein, including on her Oscar-nominated breakout role in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film “Pulp Fiction” as well as two “Kill Bill” movies.

Thurman also starred in “Beautiful Girls” and “Burnt,” two films that were distributed by Weinstein-owned companies.

It’s not the first time that Thurman has hinted at personal conflict with Weinstein since he was fired by The Weinstein Company in the wake of multiple accusations of sexual harassment and assault. (He has denied engaging in nonconsensual sex but is under investigation by authorities in New York, L.A. and London.)

“I don’t have a tidy soundbite for you, because — I have learned — I am not a child and I have learned that… when I’ve spoken in anger, I usually regret the way I express myself,” she said, carefully choosing her words in the “Access Hollywood” interview.

“So I’ve been waiting to feel less angry… and when I’m ready, I’ll say what I have to say.”

“As a result of the misconduct and unlawful acts described herein, Plaintiff has suffered, and continues to suffer, general and special damages,” the Pacific Northwest filing on behalf of Cesar Sanchez-Guzman says. “These damages include, but are not limited to, emotional distress, mental anguish, physical and mental pain and suffering, a decrease in his ability to enjoy life, past and future medical expenses, attorneys’ fees and costs, and other general and special damages, all in an amount to be determined at trial” (read it here).

The incident described in the filing supposedly occurred on a yacht party of 14-years ago where Singer invited the then teen to a secluded back room and allegedly assaulted him. The gathering was hosted by technology investor Leslie Waters “who frequently hosted parties for young gay males in the Seattle area,” the suit notes.

“Later, Bryan Singer approached Cesar and told him that he was a producer in Hollywood and that he could help Cesar get into acting as long as Cesar never said anything about the incident,” the three claim document adds. “He then told Cesar that no one would believe him if he ever reported the incident, and that he could hire people who are capable of ruining someone’s reputation.”

Prepared by sexual abuse case specialists HermanLaw and filed by local counsel in the Evergreen State, the suit claims sexual assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and sexual exploitation of children.

Representatives for Singer did not respond to request for comment from Deadline.

However, this is not the first time the A-list Hollywood director has been accused of sexual misconduct.

Michael Egan III filed a civil suit against the X-Men helmer in 2014, alleging the director had drugged him and forced him sto have sex at parties at a mansion in Encino and in Hawaii several years beforehand. Hollywood heavyweight lawyer Marty Singer, representing the unrelated director, bluntly called the suit “an attempted shakedown of Bryan Singer.” Egan would soon later admit he’d never left the mainland, and subsequently withdrew his suit after tarnishing the reputations of all involved. In December of 2014, Egan was indicted over securities fraud and wire fraud related to a fraudulent investment scheme. He spent two years behind bars for that.

In one of Singer’s earlier films, Apt Pupil, a 14-year-old extra named Devin St.Albin had filed a lawsuit claiming that the filmmaker had ordered him and other minors to strip for a scene that was shot in the showers.

This is also not the first time HermanLaw and Bryan Singer have encountered each other. Jeff Herman was Egan’s lawyer against Singer and others in 2014. The lawyer, who is currently taking on The Weinstein Company in a $5 million suit over Harvey Weinstein’s ” sexual misconduct,” ended up dropping Egan as a client as the case became thinner and thinner. The Miami based attorney eventually apologized to Singer and others named in the matter.

“Based on what I know now, I believe that I participated in making what I now know to be untrue and proveably false allegations against you,” Herman wrote in a 2015 letter to producer Garth Ancier, ex-Disney exec David Neuman and Singer. “Had I known what I learned after filing the lawsuits, I would never have filed these claims against you. I deeply regret the pain, suffering and damages the lawsuits and publicity have caused you, and your family, friends, and colleagues.” A payment over a million dollars was also sent by Herman.

“I recall Miramax telling us they were a nightmare to work with and we should avoid them at all costs,” Jackson said, referencing the production company Weinstein ran with his brother Bob. As a direct result, he said, both women fell out of the running for parts in his Lord of the Rings series.

“At the time, we had no reason to question what these guys were telling us. But in hindsight, I realize that this was very likely the Miramax smear campaign in full swing. I now suspect we were fed false information about both of these talented women.”

His admission in an interview published on Thursday offers the latest glimpse into the Weinstein machine – the byzantine network of alleged enablers and informants, the gossip and threats Weinstein is accused of using to protect himself against sexual assault claims and punish those who rejected his advances.

Sorvino and Judd have bothclaimed they refused Weinstein’s pressure to have physical relationships, and Sorvino has said she felt “iced out” of the industry after rejecting his advances.

On seeing Jackson’s interview, Sorvino tweeted on Friday: “I burst out crying. There it is, confirmation that Harvey Weinstein derailed my career, something I suspected but was unsure. Thank you Peter Jackson for being honest. I’m just heartsick.”

Jackson denied knowing about sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein and said he has long since ceased to work with the Weinstein brothers because they acted like “second-rate mafia bullies”.

Although Jackson was, in the early 1990s, developing the Lord of the Rings series for Miramax, production eventually moved to New Line Cinema.

A spokesperson for Harvey Weinstein denied he and his brother, who were credited as executive producers on the series, had any input on casting choices.

“Mr Weinstein has nothing but the utmost respect for Peter Jackson. However, as Mr Jackson will probably remember, because Disney would not finance the Lord of the Rings, Miramax lost the project and all casting was done by New Line,” the spokesperson said in an email.

The spokesperson said Weinstein cast Judd for other films after Weinstein’s harassment was alleged to have occurred and “Sorvino was always considered for other films as well”.

Earlier this year, the spokesperson claimed, Sorvino asked Weinstein to cast her husband, Christopher Backus, in a television series.

The New York Times and the New Yorker previously reported that Weinstein cultivated a far-reaching network of entertainment professionals, spies, and media allies to help him deflect potential exposure or retaliate against the source of those threats.

Weinstein is alleged to have told multiple women he could enhance their careers or ruin them depending on how they responded to his sexual advances. One actor, Annabella Sciorra, has accused Weinstein of violently raping her and suspects him of ruining her reputation.

“From 1992, I didn’t work again until 1995,” she told the New Yorker. “I just kept getting this pushback of ‘We heard you were difficult; we heard this or that.’ I think that that was the Harvey machine.”

Darryl Hannah claimed she resisted Weinstein’s advances and experienced “instant repercussions”. After an international premiere of Kill Bill 2, she recalled to the magazine, a Miramax company plane left without her, and her flights, stylists and accommodations were cancelled for another.

Also on Thursday, the New York police department announced it was opening an investigation into Russell Simmons, the rap mogul and founder of Def Jam Recordings, after multiple women accused the powerful music producer of rape and sexual assault.

Another accuser, Kelly Cutrone, a TV personality, author, and fashion publicist, emerged Friday morning. She claimed Simmons - who has denied previous rape allegations – tried to rape her and she escaped after a violent struggle.

“I remember running out the door and getting a cab and all I remember was that I got in a cab and I remember a feeling – which was so crazy – of, ‘Oh my god. Somebody just tried to rape me. What do I do?’” she told Page Six. “And then the energy of going to the police and pressing charges against him was overwhelming to me.”

Responding on Twitter to revelations made by director Peter Jackson that Harvey Weinstein and Miramax allegedly called actress Mira Sorvino and Ashley Judd “a nightmare” and prevented their casting in Lord of the Rings, another filmmaker says he experienced the same thing when trying to make his movie.

Bad Santa director Terry Zwigoff says Weinstein and his brother Bob would hang up the phone whenever he mentioned the Oscar-winning actress for his 2003 film.

“I was interested in casting Mira Sorvino in BAD SANTA, but every time I mentioned her over the phone to the Weinsteins, I’d hear a CLICK,” Zwigoff wrote. “What type of person just hangs up on you like that?! I guess we all know what type of person now.”

He ended the tweet with an apology to the actress, simply saying,”I’m really sorry Mira.”

I was interested in casting Mira Sorvino in BAD SANTA, but every time I mentioned her over the phone to the Weinsteins, I'd hear a CLICK. What type of person just hangs up on you like that?! I guess we all know what type of person now. I'm really sorry Mira. https://t.co/9U0PsL2yS5— Terry Zwigoff (@realzwigoff) December 16, 2017

“Mr. Weinstein denies speaking with Terry regarding casting. That was a Dimension film (Bob Weinstein) and Harvey had nothing to do with it,” Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer said in a statement to EW.

Zwigoff’s comments come after an interview published Friday by New Zealand publication Stuff, where Jackson categorized the comments by Harvey and Bob Wesinstein’s Miramax in the ’90s about the actresses as a “smear campaign.”

“I recall Miramax telling us they were a nightmare to work with and we should avoid them at all costs. This was probably in 1998,” Jackson said. “At the time, we had no reason to question what these guys were telling us — but in hindsight, I realize that this was very likely the Miramax smear campaign in full swing. I now suspect we were fed false information about both of these talented women — and as a direct result their names were removed from our casting list.”

However, as Mr. Jackson will probably remember, because Disney would not finance the Lord of the Rings, Miramax lost the project and all casting was done by New Line. While Bob and Harvey Weinstein were executive producers of the film they had no input into the casting whatsoever.”

“Aspects of Harvey’s denial are insincere. He is basically saying that ‘this blacklisting couldn’t be true because New Line cast the movie’. That’s a deflection from the truth,” they said in a statement obtained by EW, later adding, “We have no direct evidence linking Ashley and Mira’s allegations to our Lord of the Rings casting conversations of 20 years ago – but we stand by what we were told by Miramax when we raised both of their names, and we are recounting it accurately.”

Weinstein, via his attorney, is “standing firm that this is untrue” in a statement to EW and says he “flew Judd to NYC around that time for casting in Good Will Hunting and pushed for her to get a leading role in it,” while also maintaining that Sorvino was “working on Mimic at this same time which is a Miramax film.”

In October, Judd went public with claims that Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed her in the ’90s, when, she alleges, he invited her to his hotel room and greeted her in a bathrobe, asking for a massage and to take a shower with him. “I said no, a lot of ways, a lot of times, and he always came back at me with some new ask,” Judd said to The New York Times. “It was all this bargaining, this coercive bargaining.” Sorvino, meanwhile, told The New Yorker‘s Ronan Farrow that Harvey Weinstein behaved inappropriately with her around the same time. “He started massaging my shoulders, which made me very uncomfortable, and then tried to get more physical, sort of chasing me around,” Sorvino claimed of an incident in a Toronto hotel room around the release of Mighty Aphrodite in 1995.

Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex — as well as claims that he retaliated against women who rebuffed him. “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein,” his representatives said in a statement released in October. “Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance.”

Minnie Driver and Matt Damon are reconnecting — but it’s under circumstances that could be better. The Oscar-nominated actress recently took to Twitter to slam her Good Will Hunting co-star about his recent comments about sexual assault.

In the wake of the deluge of sexual misconduct accusations involving Harvey Weinstein and Ben Affleck, two men who Damon has worked closely with, the Downsizing actor spoke to Peter Travers on ABC on Thursday about the cloud of allegations hovering over Hollywood. He pointed out that the men being accused are being put into “one big bucket” and then said that there is a “spectrum of behavior.”

“You know, there’s a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right?” he said in the interview. “Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated, right?”

When Driver received word of his comments, she took to Twitter saying, “God God, SERIOUSLY?” From there, she did not hold back and continued to drag Damon and other men who share the same opinions.

“Gosh it’s so interesting how men with all these opinions about women’s differentiation between sexual misconduct, assault and rape reveal themselves to be utterly tone deaf and as a result, systemically part of the problem (profoundly unsurprising),” she tweeted.

Gosh it’s so *interesting how men with all these opinions about women’s differentiation between sexual misconduct, assault and rape reveal themselves to be utterly tone deaf and as a result, systemically part of the problem( *profoundly unsurprising)— Minnie Driver (@driverminnie) December 15, 2017

This was followed by an enormous amount of support from other women. In an interview with the Guardian, Driver said that she felt the need to say something and that men “cannot understand what abuse is like on a daily level.”

“I honestly think that until we get on the same page, you can’t tell a woman about their abuse,” continued Driver. “A man cannot do that. No one can. It is so individual and so personal, it’s galling when a powerful man steps up and starts dictating the terms, whether he intends it or not.”

Other women in Hollywood came forward to criticize Damon’s clouded point of view including Alyssa Milano. In a series of tweets, Milano addressed Damon in a series of tweets saying that women are outraged “because we were silenced for so long.” She went on to compare sexual harassment, misconduct, assault, and violence to cancer saying that it is a “systemic disease.” She concluded, “The tumor is being cut out right now with no anesthesia. Please send flowers.”

We are in a “culture of outrage” because the magnitude of rage is, in fact, overtly outrageous. And it is righteous.— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) December 16, 2017

I have been a victim of each component of the sexual assault spectrum of which you speak. They all hurt. And they are all connected to a patriarchy intertwined with normalized, accepted–even welcomed– misogyny.— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) December 16, 2017

We are not outraged because someone grabbed our asses in a picture. We are outraged because we were made to feel this was normal. We are outraged because we have been gaslighted. We are outraged because we were silenced for so long.— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) December 16, 2017

There are different stages of cancer. Some more treatable than others. But it’s still cancer.— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) December 16, 2017

Sexual harassment, misconduct, assault and violence is a systemic disease. The tumor is being cut out right now with no anesthesia. Please send flowers. #MeToo— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) December 16, 2017

Ever since his college days, allegations of sexual violence have followed the acclaimed comic and ‘Silicon Valley’ actor. Now, his accuser comes forward.

Warning: This story includes graphic content.

An alleged victim of former Silicon Valley star T.J. Miller is coming forward with accusations that Miller hit and sexually assaulted her while in college.

The accusations were eventually addressed by a student court at George Washington University and have been buzzed about in Hollywood and stand-up circles for years.

“He just tried a lot of things without asking me, and at no point asked me if I was all right,” the woman told The Daily Beast. “He choke[d] me, and I kept staring at his face hoping he would see that I was afraid and [that he] would stop… I couldn’t say anything.”

Miller’s alleged victim, who asked to remain anonymous, said she is coming forward now in part because of the societal awakening to issues of sexual assault and harassment that has come in the aftermath of misconduct allegations that have rocked the entertainment industry. The Daily Beast is withholding her identity because of her fears of retribution. But for the purposes of this piece, we will call her Sarah.

Miller has told friends over the years that he was wrongfully accused. And in a statement to The Daily Beast, Miller and his wife, Kate, denied any wrongdoing. Instead, they cast themselves as the victims.

Sarah “began again to circulate rumors online once [my and Kate’s] relationship became public. Sadly she is now using the current climate to bandwagon and launch these false accusations again,” the Millers wrote. “It is unfortunate that she is choosing this route as it undermines the important movement to make women feel safe coming forward about legitimate claims against real known predators.”

“Miller began ‘shaking [her] violently’ and punched her in the mouth during sex.”

But it’s not just Sarah who has come forward. The Daily Beast has corroborated details of her story—which includes two separate incidents—with five GW contemporaries and spoke to numerous associates of both her and Miller.

Two of the GW contemporaries say they were in the off-campus house where the incidents allegedly occurred. The contemporaries later testified in student court about hearing the sound of violent thuds or seeing bruises on Sarah.

Three other contemporaries said they comforted and counseled Sarah in the aftermath of the incidents. Matt Lord was one of them. An ex-boyfriend of Sarah’s, he told The Daily Beast that he continues to believe her story more than a decade after the fact.

“I attended George Washington University for undergraduate studies from 2000 until December 2003... I had a romantic relationship with [this] woman, who spoke with me about T.J. Miller sexually assaulting her,” Lord, who currently works as an attorney in Montague, Massachusetts, wrote in a statement to The Daily Beast. “At the time I believed the statements she made regarding the assault by Mr. Miller, and I continue to believe the statements she made are true. She was engaged in student conduct proceedings regarding the sexual assault, and I remember the emotional toll that the assault and the subsequent conduct hearings placed on her.”

In the years since, Miller has attempted to address the lingering allegations by occasionally making light of them. He’s privately joked about committing violence against a woman in his past, according to three sources in the comedy world. Perhaps that is why some female performers and comedy professionals tell The Daily Beast that they have declined to work with Miller, citing a perceived history of abusive behavior.

The incidents took place at GW where Miller was a student and Sarah was taking classes but not matriculating. They fell in with the same GW comedy troupe, receSs, during which time they struck up a relationship. “I felt relatively safe with T.J. at the time,” Sarah explained.

But months into their relationship, which started in the fall of 2001, Sarah said the first troubling encounter took place. She recalled having “a lot to drink” and admitted that there are “parts of [the incident] I don’t remember.” She stressed that “it is important to me to cop to that… [and] I’m not interested in forcing a pretend memory on anyone… 15 years later, I remain terrified of accusing someone of something they didn’t do, but I have a visual and physical memory of that.”

However, Sarah said she has a distinct memory that as they were “fooling around” at her place, Miller began “shaking me violently” and punched her in the mouth during sex.

Sarah said that she woke up the following morning with a fractured tooth and a bloodied lip. When she asked Miller about it that morning, he claimed, according to Sarah, that she had simply fallen down drunkenly the past evening.

She was unsettled by the incident, but said that she did not know many people in D.C. and continued to see Miller. She had lost her virginity to him and, at least for a brief window, he was someone she trusted.

“I couldn’t bring myself [at the time] to believe this had happened... It was me not wanting it to be true.”

“I couldn’t bring myself [at the time] to believe this had happened,” Sarah said. “It was me not wanting it to be true.”

A few days after the first incident, Sarah got word that she would no longer be participating in receSs. She was upset and disappointed and said that she called Miller to confide in him. She had not fully processed the first encounter, she said, and Miller was still someone she believed she could turn to in a time of stress and vulnerability.

They soon met at a college party, and left in a cab to head back to the apartment she had been renting with her roommates. When they arrived back at her home, they began to engage in consensual sex—but then Miller became violent again, Sarah said. She emphasized that she had not had more than two drinks that evening, and that her memory of the following “five-hour” ordeal was and is “crystal-clear.”

“We started to fool around, and very early in that, he put his hands around my throat and closed them, and I couldn’t breathe,” she recalled. “I was genuinely terrified and completely surprised. I understand now that this is for some people a kink, and I continue to believe it is [something] that should be entered into by consenting parties. But, as someone who had only begun having sexual encounters, like, about three months earlier, I had no awareness this was a kink, and I had certainly not entered into any agreement that I would be choked.

“I was fully paralyzed,” Sarah continued.

Sarah claimed that she was “choking audibly”—to the point that her roommates could hear what was happening and rushed over to knock on her bedroom door. Sarah said she then got up and walked to her door in a robe, and one of her roommates asked if everything was OK.

“I don’t know,” she responded, before shutting the door, “I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

“He pulled me back to bed and more things happened,” Sarah said. “He anally penetrated me without my consent, which I actually believe at that point I cried out, like, ‘No,’ and he didn’t continue to do that—but he also had a [beer] bottle with him the entire time. He used the bottle at one point to penetrate me without my consent.”

During the incident, Sarah said she “froze.” She says she “wasn’t prepared” for what had happened and that she “didn’t want to believe it was happening.”

Miller finally left her apartment around 5 a.m. The next morning, Sarah said she confided in her roommates about what had happened. One of those housemates, who is currently a Maryland resident and stay-at-home mom who asked not to be named in this story, confirmed as much to The Daily Beast.

“I knew T.J. was in her bedroom and I was in my bedroom, which was a wall away,” the source said. “My [other] roommate was in my bedroom with me and we heard a loud smacking noise, and we were concerned… The very next day when we talked to [Sarah] she was very upset, and… had said he had hit her in a very violent way.”

Katie Duffy, a former GW student and another of Sarah’s ex-housemates, said she had not realized that the “T.J.” from that night was the famed actor and comedian until informed by The Daily Beast. (She conceded she “had to Google him.”) But she recalled the incident much as Sarah had described it.

“One night, she had [Miller] back, and late at night… [a housemate and I] heard quite a lot of fighting [sounds] and banging, and loud, violent sounds [in the room next to us],” Duffy said. “So we knocked on the door of our housemate [Sarah], and asked if she was OK. She did indicate she was OK. Whatever response she gave, we felt we didn’t have to intervene further, at least at the time… Looking back, I wish we had done more to intervene, but we didn’t know what was going on… This is a girl I didn’t know very well, but it didn’t mean I didn’t have the power to go into that room, and remove her from that situation, and protect her. We did what we thought was the right thing at the time. It wasn’t enough.”

The next morning, Duffy recalled, Sarah came down to the small kitchen where other housemates were having coffee and breakfast. Her physical appearance raised alarm.

“She looked like she had been through a rough night—I recall seeing bruises [on Sarah],” Duffy said. “One roommate asked if she wanted to go to the police. Others offered to take her to the hospital, given how she looked.”

Sarah ultimately declined. Duffy moved out shortly thereafter, and said she hasn’t spoken to Sarah since, simply because “we didn’t know each other well.”

In the days and weeks that directly followed the alleged sexual assaults, Sarah’s friendship with Miller disintegrated completely. She said they met once more, days after that second night, to talk about what had happened; “T.J. said it was a ‘trust thing’… and that he thought I was into it,” Sarah recalled.

As they drifted apart, she asked mutual friends of Miller’s about the incident. According to Sarah and those close to her, the responses were fairly uniform, to the effect of, “Yeah, that’s just T.J.” The only other time she would see him over the next year was at a female comedy group show that she attended. “T.J. showed up to heckle, and I remember being so angry,” she said, “and had to leave.”

“She looked like she had been through a rough night—I recall seeing bruises... One roommate asked if she wanted to go to the police. Others offered to take her to the hospital.”

It would be almost a year—following much deliberations, counsel, and support from friends—before Sarah went to GW’s campus police to tell them what had happened. By then, Miller was in his last year at the university.

“I was not ready to process what was happening [the prior year], and I have spent a lot of time in my life apologizing for not having shouted ‘no,’ and for not having told my roommates to get him out of here,” Sarah said, explaining why she didn’t go to campus police a year earlier. “I was not ready to reconcile the events taking place with the person I had known. It was so disorienting and so physically traumatic.”

Like other female college students in similar circumstances, Sarah did not want to take the case to the cops since nearly a year had passed, and there was no remaining physical evidence. Instead, her allegations were handled by the “student court” at the university.

At this point, Sarah asked her housemate—the current Maryland mom who heard the “loud smacking noise”—if she would testify in the student court process, and she agreed.

“I testified in student court about the noise I had heard and how upset she was after the incident,” Sarah’s former housemate recalled to The Daily Beast. “T.J. was there with a lawyer during the student court proceeding.”

That housemate subsequently asked Duffy if she’d testified. “I was happy to,” Duffy said, recalling that she did not see Sarah at the student court during her testimony, but said that Miller, his father, and his attorney were there.

“I was asked why I hadn’t done anything [more] if I was so worried… and I said, well, the noises were loud enough that it did prompt us to ask what was wrong, so we did do something,” Duffy said. “I felt very uncomfortable, the way they were challenging me on it.”

Sarah said that the student court grilled her about “all my habits,” including what she had to drink, and how much, on both nights. She was asked if she had ever heard of erotic asphyxiation, and was asked if they had ever discussed the sexual practice, which she had not.

After a trial period that lasted a couple of weeks, Sarah said that the university told her that the issue had been resolved.

A GW spokesperson would only tell The Daily Beast that “because of federal privacy law, we are not able to provide information about current or former students’ education records,” in response to inquiries regarding a campus PD report or the student court proceedings. The federal law GW is referencing is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

GW did confirm, however, that Miller graduated in 2003, but did not comment on whether he “graduated early” due to any unique circumstance. Other knowledgeable sources told The Daily Beast that Miller was “expelled after he graduated”—an outcome that appeared to be an attempt by the university to satisfy both parties.

Sarah said she had lost acquaintances over her allegations, several of whom were her former comedy-troupe cohorts, most of whom ended up supporting Miller.

Four of these friends spoke to The Daily Beast, though none agreed to do so on the record. Each of these friends was in the college comedy troupe or matriculating at GW at the time. And all of them presented the same general portrait of Miller as a gregarious and generous person who “couldn’t have done this,” as several said.

“I’ve known T.J. since college, always known him to be a very caring person, and respectful, particularly toward women,” one friend said. “And he loves his wife very, very much.”

Another source, who testified in student court (via phone, post-graduation) on Miller’s behalf, said it was unimaginable that T.J. could do “anything like that.”

“I have never heard of another woman [who dated him in college] make any kind of allegation or insinuation that he was anything but a good guy,” the friend continued. Another friend insisted that Miller “was the type of person if you took him to a strip club, he would want to talk to the strippers, not hit on them.”

No one has accused Miller of hitting on strippers.

A source also produced a set of email exchanges between Miller and someone who dated Sarah later in life. The emails, one of which was presented without the conversation that preceded it, didn’t directly address the incident itself but instead showed both parties trying to come to a more amicable understanding. Sarah told The Daily Beast that she was simply under “some social pressure to be cool about this at the time, and didn't necessarily see myself as having any other option to resolution.”

One of Miller’s friends said he “believed [Sarah] knew she was making this up” to “intentionally and maliciously fabricate” a sexual-assault allegation. This friend could not offer any evidence to support such a claim, nor could another person, who wasn’t a friend of Miller’s but shared a similar view and testified on his behalf.

Kate and T.J. Miller made similar accusations in a statement‍ provided weeks after first learning that The Daily Beast was reporting on these incidents.

“We met this woman over a decade ago while studying together in college, she attempted to break us up back then by plotting for over a year before making contradictory claims and accusations,” the Millers wrote.

“She was asked to leave our university comedy group because of worrisome and disturbing behavior, which angered her immensely, she then became fixated on our relationship, and began telling people around campus ‘I’m going to destroy them’ and ‘I’m going to ruin him,’” the statement continued.

When asked about these claims, Sarah’s responded, “Of course not.”

“He was a friend to me before [the incidents], and he had been there for me before that,” she said. “I didn’t want him in jail. I didn’t hate him. He was someone I cared about… I don’t want to mess up his life. But he behaved in a way towards me that I have to live with… [and] I don’t think it’s appropriate that I carry this by myself.”

If Sarah was eager to settle scores with Miller, she certainly didn’t show it. When The Daily Beast first started looking into this story, those close to her said for months that she had expressed no desire to come forward and was actively avoiding media inquiries. Only weeks after the advent of the #MeToo movement did that seem to change.

Miller soon left his alma mater and became a star in stand-up comedy. He then began appearing in major Hollywood productions, and landed a starring role on the critically lauded HBO show Silicon Valley. But despite the lack of public accusations since his time at George Washington, whispers about what happened in his college years followed him.

Four female comedians and bookers who spoke to The Daily Beast said that they had heard of the alleged sexual misconduct at GW. Some of these comics had heard about the accusations from Sarah directly, and have since warned women in stand-up comedy about Miller.

But some know about the sexual-assault allegations because Miller talked about them himself when confiding in friends and associates.

Four sources in the L.A. and Chicago comedy scenes—including JC Coccoli, a Los Angeles-based producer who briefly dated Miller in 2009—said they each first heard of the allegations because Miller had told them about them or referenced them in private conversation, or at small gatherings before or after shows. Miller did so in the context of vehemently denying “rumors” circulating in various comedy communities. Other times, he would crack jokes about punching a woman he knew in college, two other comics independently told The Daily Beast.

Maura Brown, a comedy festival organizer and publicist who used to work in L.A. and has since uprooted to Portland, Oregon, said she has also heard about the Miller allegation for years.

“Very commonly, women have warned each other [in entertainment] about him… and about what happened in college,” Brown told The Daily Beast.

Brown noted that starting in 2013, when she first heard about the allegations, she “never wanted to work with him [ever], and never wanted to work on the same projects as him,” and that “this convinced me to not try to book him or promote him in any way.”

“I didn’t want him in jail. I didn’t hate him. But he behaved in a way towards me that I have to live with… I don’t think it’s appropriate that I carry this by myself.”

Still, Miller, whose star is increasingly rising in Hollywood these days, continues to have friends in high places in the entertainment world.

Miller is set to appear in several major film projects, including an upcoming movie co-starring Kristen Stewart and another starring Ryan Reynolds. This year, HBO aired his stand-up special, and Comedy Central started airing The Gorburger Show, what Miller has previously told The Daily Beast is his “passion project” about a murderous alien talk-show host.

Sarah, his alleged victim, no longer lives in L.A., where she resettled not long after auditing at GW. She says she had a “wonderful experience doing improv and comedy” in the local comedy scene, and tried to put what happened with Miller behind her.

“I had to see him at my improv school [in L.A.], which I, shortly after, stopped going to, and see him at stand-up shows, and I stopped doing stand-up [eventually in L.A.],” Sarah said. “It doesn’t help that when I was living in L.A. I had to keep seeing his name on billboards, and on bus stops, and it just didn’t… stop.”

She added, “It is unfathomable to me that he doesn’t understand that he actually put me through something I have to live with, that I never would’ve chosen, that completely, completely set the tone for my sexual adult life, that I actively had to spend years and years… un-programming.”

On Wednesday actress Bobette Riales tweeted, in no uncertain terms, that she was raped by the former "That 70s Show" star.

She added that she wasn't seeking anything other than "justice and to prevent this from ever happening to anyone else."

In closing Riales vowed, "My truth will be heard." She tagged a previous accuser, Chrissie Bixler, whom she applauded for her "strength."

Bixler responded to Riales' tweet, saying that she was "so proud."

Riales is one of four other women who have accused Masterson, 41, of violently raping them in the early 2000s. He has been under investigation by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for nearly a year, law officials confirmed to the Daily News.

As a result of the mounting allegations against him, Masterson was recently dropped from his Netflix series, "The Ranch."

On Dec. 5, a spokesperson issued a statement to the Huffington Post about Masterson's firing.

"As a result of ongoing discussions, Netflix and the producers have written Danny Masterson out of 'The Ranch.' Yesterday was his last day on the show, and production will resume in early 2018 without him," the statement read.

Masterson vehemently denied rape accusations.

A representative for the actor released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, suggesting that the allegations against Masterson — a noted scientologist — were motivated by victims' association with Leah Remini, who left the church.

"We are aware of (the alleged victim's) 16-year-old allegations. It was only after (the alleged victim) was in contact with Leah Remini that she made allegations of sexual assault by Mr. Masterson," the rep stated.

I stayed quiet long enough. Danny Masterson repeatedly raped me. All I seek is justice and to prevent this from ever happening to anyone else as it has for some time. My truth will be heard. I applaud her strength as well. @ChrissieBixler#metoo#sisters— Bobette Riales (@RialesMBobette) December 21, 2017

"The alleged incident occurred in the middle of their 6-year relationship, after which she continued to be his longtime girlfriend. Significantly, during their long relationship she made numerous claims that she was previously raped by at least 3 other famous actors and musicians."

The statement went on, accusing the victim of continuing to reach out to Masterson after their relationship ended, even going as far as threatening his wife.

You are amazing. I’m so proud of you. He will never do this to another human being ever again. He’s a thief in the night, but he overlooked some incredibly valuable things we still possess. Our voice. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️— chrissie carnell-bixler (@ChrissieBixler) December 21, 2017

"When Danny ended the relationship she continued to pursue him, even making threats to beat up his current wife Bijou Phillips unless she left him. In fact, we are informed by the Church that the only demand (alleged victim's) made of the Church after Danny broke up with her was asking for their help to intervene so the breakup would not be permanent," it read.

Masterson has not yet responded to the latest allegations against him.

Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney said the U.S.A. Gymnastics team paid her a settlement and pressured her to sign a non-disclosure agreement regarding the sexual abuse she and others suffered at the hands of the team doctor, Larry Nassar. The claims were made in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Her lawyer, John Manly, who was not involved in negotiating the original settlement, argues that the agreement was illegal as they obscured abuse of minors. The case names United States Olympic Committee, U.S.A. Gymnastics, Nassar, and his former full-time employer, Michigan State University, as defendants.

The suit alleges that the gymnast “was forced to agree to a non-disparagement clause and confidentiality provision,” which held “a six-figure liquidated damages clause over the head of McKayla Maroney and her parents.” Manly said in a statement:

The U.S. Olympic Committee and U.S.A. Gymnastics were well aware that the victim of child sexual abuse in California cannot be forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement as a condition of a settlement. Such agreements are illegal for very good reasons—they silence victims and allow perpetrators to continue committing their crimes. That is exactly what happened in this case.

U.S.A. Gymnastics struck the deal in 2016, as rumors of Nassar’s abuse began to spread. Dozens of women from the four Olympic games for which he was the women’s gymnastics team’s physician have since come forward with accusations of sexual assault, includingAly Raisman and Gabby Douglas, both members of the 2012 London Olympics’ “Fierce Five” along with Maroney. The Wall Street Journal, reports that Maroney’s settlement was $1.25 million. Hers is the only settlement with U.S.A. Gymnastics known at this time. (Nassar has since pleaded guilty to federal child-pornography charges and first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison earlier this month. Vanity Fair has reached out to Nassar’s attorney as well as Michigan State for comment.)

A spokesperson for U.S.A. Gymnastics said in a statement that they entered into confidential negotiations at the request of her lawyer at the time, Gloria Allred. “In 2016, McKayla’s attorney at the time, Gloria Allred, approached U.S.A. Gymnastics, requesting that the organization participate in a confidential mediation process. U.S.A. Gymnastics cannot speak to the mediation process, which is confidential and privileged under California law.” (Allred declined to comment.)

“Although U.S.A. Gymnastics is disappointed by today's filing, we applaud McKayla and others who speak up against abusive behavior—including the despicable acts of Larry Nassar,” the statement went on. “We want to work together with McKayla and others to help encourage and empower athletes to speak up against abuse.”

For its part, the U.S. Olympic Committee denies being a part of the settlement. U.S.O.C. spokesperson Mark Jones said in a statement:

We were first made aware of the possibility that a U.S.A. Gymnastics physician had sexually abused U.S.A. Gymnastics athletes in the summer of 2015 when we were informed by U.S.A. Gymnastics. At that time, U.S.A. Gymnastics indicated that they were in the process of contacting the appropriate law-enforcement agencies. We are heartbroken that this abuse occurred, proud of the brave victims that have come forward, and grateful that our criminal-justice system has ensured that Nassar will never be able to harm another young woman. We are hopeful that with the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s continued education and prevention efforts, as well as their investigative and adjudicative authority, we will help ensure that tragedies like this will never happen again.

Maroney violated the settlement’s terms when she posted about her abuse under the #MeToo hashtag that coalesced after the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment and assault scandal broke this October. She’s since deleted her social-media accounts, but she said that her abuse at the hands of Nassar began when she was 13. “I had a dream to go to the Olympics, and the things that I had to endure to get there were unnecessary and disgusting,” she wrote. “For me, the scariest night of my life happened when I was 15 years old. I had flown all day and night with the team to get to Tokyo. He’d given me a sleeping pill for the flight, and the next thing I know, I was all alone with him in his hotel room getting a ‘treatment.’ I thought I was going to die that night.”

Manly told ESPN that Wednesday’s filing could expose Maroney to countersuit from U.S.A. Gymnastics, but he feels that it’s unlikely the organization would triumph. “People need to understand the courage it took to put out that Twitter post. She not only was exposing her humiliating story, but she was also putting herself at legal risk,“ he said.

“I want people to understand that this kid had no choice. She couldn’t function. She couldn’t work,” Manly continued. “[U.S.A. Gymnastics] were willing to sacrifice the health and well-being of one of the most famous gymnasts in the world because they didn’t want the world to know they were protecting a pedophile doctor.”

All Sheedy kicked off a lot of talk about James Franco following his Golden Globe wn on Sunday after she tweeted #MeToo and several more women have joined the conversation. On top of his predatory behavior with grown women, Franco also has a thing for underage girls as we all pretty much knew after that Snapchat incident when he tried to bang that 15 year old but as it turns out she wasn't the only jail bait Franco was hunting for. He has always been such a creepy fucker, that honestly he is not the least bit surprising of a reveal and I wouldn't mourn the loss of his career as I've avoided pretty much everything he's made for nearly a decade now.

James Franco Accused Of ‘Sexually Inappropriate And Exploitative Behavior’ By Five Women

James Franco has been accused of sexually inappropriate and exploitative behavior by five women, days after he denied reports on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

Five women have made allegations against The Disaster Artist star, who won a Golden Globe for his performance, in an article by the Los Angeles Times. Four of the women were students that Franco coached, while one said he was her “mentor”.

Sarah Tither-Kaplan, who appeared in a number of Franco-led productions, accused Franco of “abuse of power”. She told the Times that during a nude orgy scene “he removed protective plastic guards covering other actresses’ vaginas while simulating oral sex on them”.

Two other women reportedly claimed that Franco, who coached at his own Studio 4 as well as at Playhouse West in North Hollywood, became angry when no women would agree to be topless on a shoot.

Franco disputed the women’s allegations via his attorney Michael Plonsker, who pointed the newspaper to Franco’s comments on the late-night CBS show.

“Look, in my life I pride myself on taking responsibility for things that I have done,” he told Colbert. “I have to do that to maintain my well being. The things that I heard that were on Twitter are not accurate. But I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice because they didn’t have a voice for so long. So I don’t want to shut them down in any way.”

“If I have done something wrong,” he added, “I will fix it — I have to.”

@UltimateMarvel wrote:I actually wouldn't be surprised by the accusations against James but only because shit I've read about him.

The gymnastics paying McKayla Maroney is disgusting though. Feel sorry for her and the other girls. WTF?! Shouldn't someone be responsible for these girls around the world, that ain't right.

James Franco is a skeevy creepy cunt and he always has been. If anybody is surprised that "the artist" known as Franco, a guy who once jerked off on a Batman mask and then shared that photo is in reality a predator, then they have no survival skills in life.

@UltimateMarvel wrote:I actually wouldn't be surprised by the accusations against James but only because shit I've read about him.

The gymnastics paying McKayla Maroney is disgusting though. Feel sorry for her and the other girls. WTF?! Shouldn't someone be responsible for these girls around the world, that ain't right.

James Franco is a skeevy creepy cunt and he always has been. If anybody is surprised that "the artist" known as Franco, a guy who once jerked off on a Batman mask and then shared that photo is in reality a predator, then they have no survival skills in life.

Yep. His brother is cool though, I like Dave. I don't think I've read anything bad about him, he stays pretty grounded.

@UltimateMarvel wrote:Yep. His brother is cool though, I like Dave. I don't think I've read anything bad about him, he stays pretty grounded.

Dave's always seemed fairly normal even if he has a totally fucked sense of humor. But he's also been with Alison Brie for years so I can't knock his hustle.

There were some brand new allegations against Steven Seagal today too but it's for the rape in 1993 of an 18 year old female extra from his movie On Deadly Ground. An official police investigation has been opened but given the amount of time, there's nothing they will do about it again.

UPDATE with statement from Dushku’s motherActress Eliza Dushku has accused famed stunt coordinator Joel Kramer of sexually molesting her when she was 12 years old during filming of True Lies. Dushku, the former Buffy The Vampire and Dollhouse actress, starred as the daughter of the characters played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis, and Kramer, who has long been Schwarzenegger personal stunt double, was the film’s stunt coordinator.

She also claims that after Kramer was confronted by an adult she’d confided in, he intentionally injured her, breaking her ribs, in a stunt that went wrong during filming of the film’s Harrier Jet scene. “Whereas he was supposed to be my protector, he was my abuser,” the Bull actress wrote in a lengthy Facebook posting.

“These are outlandish, manipulated lies,” Kramer told Deadline. “I never sexually molested her. I’m sick to my stomach. It’s not true. I think she’s making this up in her imagination. This is all lies. Lies, lies, lies. This is just crazy. I treated her like a daughter. We all looked out for her. How does a guy like me fight against something like this? I don’t know what to do. I guess I’ll have to get a lawyer and file a lawsuit against her for defamation and slander.”

Dushku’s accusation: “When I was 12 years old, while filming True Lies, I was sexually molested by Joel Kramer, one of Hollywood’s leading stunt coordinators,” she wrote. “Ever since, I have struggled with how and when to disclose this, if ever. At the time, I shared what happened to me with my parents, two adult friends and one of my older brothers. No one seemed ready to confront this taboo subject then, nor was I.”

Dushku goes on to detail the alleged assault in his hotel room, but notes that she was wearing shorts and that there was no sexual penetration. “I remember, so clearly 25 years later, how Joel Kramer made me feel special, how he methodically built my and my parents’ trust, for months grooming me; exactly how he lured me to his Miami hotel room with a promise to my parent that he would take me for a swim at the stunt crew’s hotel pool and for my first sushi meal thereafter. I remember vividly how he methodically drew the shades and turned down the lights; how he cranked up the air-conditioning to what felt like freezing levels, where exactly he placed me on one of the two hotel room beds, what movie he put on the television (Coneheads); how he disappeared in the bathroom and emerged, naked, bearing nothing but a small hand towel held flimsy at his mid-section. I remember what I was wearing (my favorite white denim shorts, thankfully, secured enough for me to keep on). I remember how he laid me down on the bed, wrapped me with his gigantic writhing body, and rubbed all over me. He spoke these words: ‘You’re not going to sleep on me now sweetie, stop pretending you’re sleeping,’ as he rubbed harder and faster against my catatonic body. When he was ‘finished,’ he suggested, ‘I think we should be careful…’ [about telling anyone] he meant. I was 12, he was 36.”

“I remember how afterwards, the taxi driver stared at me in the rear view mirror when Joel Kramer put me on his lap in the backseat and clutched me and grew aroused again; and how my eyes never left the driver’s eyes during that long ride over a Miami bridge, back to my hotel and parent. I remember how Joel Kramer grew cold with me in the ensuing weeks, how everything felt different on the set.

And I remember how soon-after, when my tough adult female friend (in whom I had confided my terrible secret on the condition of a trade that she let me drive her car around the Hollywood Hills) came out to the set to visit and face him, later that very same day, by no small coincidence, I was injured from a stunt-gone-wrong on the Harrier jet. With broken ribs, I spent the evening in the hospital. To be clear, over the course of those months rehearsing and filming True Lies, it was Joel Kramer who was responsible for my safety on a film that at the time broke new ground for action films. On a daily basis he rigged wires and harnesses on my 12 year old body. My life was literally in his hands: he hung me in the open air, from a tower crane, atop an office tower, 25+ stories high.”

Kramer also insisted that he never intentionally hurt her on the film. “I remember she might have gotten a little bruised” – from hanging by a harness and wires during the Harrier Jet scene – “but I don’t think she broke any ribs.”

“Why speak out now?” she asked on Facebook. “I was 12, he was 36. It is incomprehensible. Why didn’t an adult on the set find his predatory advances strange — that over-the-top special attention he gave me. Fairly early on he nicknamed me ‘Jailbait’ and brazenly called me by this name in a sick flirty way in front of others (at the time, I remember asking one of my older brothers what it meant). Sure, I’ve come to understand the terrible power dynamics that play into whistle-blowing by ‘subordinates’ against persons in power, how difficult it can be for someone to speak up. But I was a child. Over the years I’ve really struggled as I’ve wondered how my life might have been different if someone, any one grown-up who witnessed his sick ways, had spoken up before he lured me to that hotel room.

“Years ago, I had heard second hand that Joel Kramer was ‘found out’ and forced to leave the business. I learned recently that in fact he still works at the top of the industry. And a few weeks ago, I found an internet photo of Joel Kramer hugging a young girl. That image has haunted me near nonstop since. I can no longer hide what happened.”

Kramer, however, says that her claim that he was “found out” about other alleged assaults on young actors and was “forced to leave the business” years ago is another lie. “Look at my IMDb page,” he said. “There are no missing years. That’s another lie.” And says he believes that the photo of him hugging a little girl she refers to is from his own Facebook page from the film The Conjuring 2.

“Hollywood has been very good to me in many ways,” Dushka wrote. “Nevertheless, Hollywood also failed to protect me, a child actress. I like to think of myself as a tough Boston chick, in many ways I suppose not unlike Faith, Missy, or Echo. Through the years, brave fans have regularly shared with me how some of my characters have given them the conviction to stand up to their abusers. Now it is you who give me strength and conviction. I hope that speaking out will help other victims and protect against future abuse.

“With every person that speaks out, every banner that drops down onto my iphone screen disclosing similar stories/truths, my resolve strengthens. Sharing these words, finally calling my abuser out publicly by name, brings the start of a new calm.”

She added that she is “grateful to the women and men who have gone before me in recent months. The ever-growing list of sexual abuse and harassment victims who have spoken out with their truths have finally given me the ability to speak out. It has been indescribably exhausting, bottling this up inside me for all of these years.”

Someone accessed Kramer’s IMDb page today and posted that “Joel Kramer is a known child molester. He repeatedly abused children off set of numerous movies and then left their life in his hands on-set during stunts.” It’s since been taken down. “Somebody is hacking my IMDb page,” he said, “and now I’m getting all kinds of hate emails saying that I should kill myself.”

Dushku’s mother, Judith, confirmed her daughter’s account of the alleged assault. In a comment on Eliza’s Facebook page, she answered a commenter’s assertion that “Your parents have some answering to do. Big blockbuster or not, my child comes to me and others saying they have been abused like this? No chance in hell that child would be going back, I don’t care how much money or fame is at stake. Hollywood is vile and your parents made some poor decisions. I’m sorry.”

“I accept your condemnation as Eliza’s mother,” Judith wrote. “No, it was not her career that I feared for, as that meant nothing to me. I was afraid of Joel Kramer, too. And it was years later that I finally understood fully what really happened. At the time, Eliza was too scared to tell the whole story and in a way I think she protected me from knowing because she knew how frightened I was of the powerful men on the set. Her lose was the worst, but abuse can throw a wide net. I only began to understand this many years later. Thank you to your mother for what she did for you. I wish I had been that brave.”

Colonna, now a manager, had represented Dushku for three years at the time the young actress got True Lies as part of a 15-year stint as her representative. Colonna was the “tough adult female friend in whom I had confided my terrible secret” that Dushku referred to in her Facebook post.

Colonna said she had contacted True Lies executive producer Rae Sanchini to raise concerns of misconduct even before the incident occurred, while the movie was filming in Miami.

“I’d called Rae multiple times because there was such inappropriateness going on the set,” Colonna told Deadline. “There was sexual talk to and at her at various occasions. She was a very feisty, precocious 12-year-old, a tomboy, they may have felt she was one of the boys but it was really inappropriate from the top.”

The account is consistent with the picture Sue Booth-Forbes, Dushku’s legal guardian on the set of the movie, painted to Deadline yesterday, speaking of “misogyny,sexual language and attitudes of the crowd of immature white men who made up the vast majority of the crew. She was treated like one of the boys, not a 12-year-old girl.”Colonna said she chose Sanchini as the person to contact because she was True Lies‘ director/producer James Cameron’s producer at the tine and she was a woman. Sanchini’s response, according to Colonna? “I will look into it.”

Then when production on the movie, in which Dushlku played Arnold Schwarzenegger’s daughter, came to Los Angeles, she shared her “secret” with Colonna.

“She told me. I couldn’t believe it. I said ‘I’m coming to the set tomorrow’,” Colonna said. Dushku pleaded with her not to tell anyone for fear of retribution but Colonna went to the set anyway.

She said she spoke with Sanchini and she also pulled Kramer aside and told him,” You are going to stay the f*uck away from her.”

As for what happened after — “Nobody really did anything,” Colonna said. She recalled Sanchini’s reaction being, “what was a 12-year-old girl doing hanging out with a crew late at night.”

Booth-Forbes believes it was Sanchini whom she told about the assault, referring to her in her statement, “I did the only thing I knew to do then — report his behavior to someone with some clout, and that went nowhere. “

Speaking at TCA yesterday, Cameron said that he had just learned about Dushku’s claims, which he had not been aware of. “Had I known about it, there would have been no mercy,” Cameron said.

Colonna also reached out to True Lies casting director, the late Mali Finn, who had discovered Dushku three year prior at an open casting call and was close to Dushku’s mom.

Colonna recalls asking her, “What do I do, who do I call?.” She told me, ‘just be careful.'”

That warning illustrates the stigma speaking out about sexual harassment and sexual assault in Hollywood had carried for decades.

“I’ve read all the stories about Mira Sorvino, Ashley Judd. There is a reason why nobody come forward; everyone was so afraid that they would get blacklisted and fired.”

Colonna jumped to the defense of Dushku’s mom and her legal guardian, who had faced online accusations for not preventing the assault, noting that they could not be”right there every second, constantly on set” because of the way movie production works.

Colonna said she is glad that Dushku has found the courage to come forward with her story. “To carry this for so long, I’m sure it’s devastating how it affect the rest of your life.”

***

Conti, a college professor and writer, is a close friend of Dushku’s and Colonna’s, who has known Dushku since she was 11. He told Deadline that she confided in him about the alleged incident, in which Kramer, under the pretext of a crew pool party, lured Dusku to his hotel room. Conti, who first heard the story from Dushku shortly after the attack had happened while she still was filming True Lies, said that he hadn’t read Dushku’s Facebook post in which she details the assault but his account of it as told to him by the actress 25 years ago was consistent with the story she shared.

“She was really, really upset, she said it was a bad situation,” Conti said.

He said that he wanted to go and confront Kramer but Dushku told him to let it go. “She said she was afraid because he was in charge of her stunts,” Conti said. (In her post, Dushku talks about being fearful for her life after a serious stunt accident she suffered under Kramer’s supervision shortly after the alleged assault sent her to the hospital with broken ribs.)

“She said it’s her word against his and no one would believe her,” Conti said. He admits, “I regret not handling it differently. What clouded my judgement is that JoAnne repeatedly went to the producer and nothing happened. How the hell were they going to listen to me.”

Conti still tried to confront Kramer at the True Lies premiere in Westwood.

“I thought he was going to beat him up, we had to hold him back,” Colonna recalls of the incident, noting that she got help from security to avoid physical confrontation.

Conti that said 9-10 years had passed by before Dushku brought up the incident again in a conversation. They last discussed it a couple of years ago. “This time, I got the magnitude of it, how much it had affected her as child, and more so when she got older, as a teenager. We talked about her coming out (with the story) but she said, ‘what can I do, there is no proof”.”

In her FB post, Dushku talks about how she found strength to go public with her allegation.

“With every person that speaks out, every banner that drops down onto my iphone screen disclosing similar stories/truths, my resolve strengthens. Sharing these words, finally calling my abuser out publicly by name, brings the start of a new calm.”

Alright so everybody knew about it and just said "well that's the business".

So at least they all had a good reason......

Arnold is noticeably silent on this even though Joel Kramer worked closely with him for years. Kramer did the stunts or stand in work in pretty much every Arnold movie for a decade and he's also a major player in the stunt industry and has been involved in many of the biggest movies and shows over the years too.

Two More Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Stunt Coordinator Joel Kramer Include One Involving 10th Grade Girl

Two veteran stunt women have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct by famed stunt coordinator Joel Kramer. One involves a 10th grade girl who came to the North Carolina set of Virus in the spring of 1997 to see how movies are made, while a second woman claims that more than 30 years ago Kramer forced her to perform oral sex on him.

Kramer, who for many years was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s personal stunt double, has denied Dushku’s allegations. But he acknowledged that few years later,he had a sexual encounter with the 16-year-old friend of the 15-year-old sister of a stunt woman who worked for him on Virus. The police were called, but said they couldn’t do anything because the age of consent in the state is 16.

Laura Albert, who worked as a stunt woman for Kramer on both films, told Deadline that her sister and her sister’s friend visited the Virus set in Wilmington, NC, in February or March of 1997. Albert would not identify the girl – now in her 30s – “because she does not want me to.”

“I invited my younger sister to the set as she resided there,” Albert said in a written statement. “I wanted her to come to the set in an effort to mentor her, to show her the motion picture industry from the inside, as she had desired to become a makeup artist. One day after we finished work, I had my sister and her friend, who were 15 and 16 and in the 1oth grade, come out to hang with all the stunt personnel as we were going to go go-karting. I wanted her to have the experience of having some ‘good clean fun’ in the setting of a professional industry.

“That night, after going karting, the stunt department had to leave as we all had early calls the next day. Unbeknownst to me, my boss, Joel Kramer, had lured the girls to go swimming at the pool in his hotel. It wasn’t until a month later that I learned of the events that happened that night.”

Albert said Kramer brought the girls back to the hotel to swim, and that while the three of them were in the pool, “he pulled his dick out and said, ‘You cannot handle this,’ and then began to swim towards them. That’s when my sister left. Even today, she feels guilty for having left her friend.”

She continued, “My sister ended up leaving and she left her friend there with Joel. Joel had sex with the 16-year-old girl. She was 16. He was 39. His room number was 424.” (Albert said that whenever the girls – now women with children of their own – refer to the incident, they use “424” as code.)

Kramer disputed several elements of Albert’s account.

“I did not invite the two girls up to my room,” he said. “One girl on her own came to my room as she was legal age.” In a written statement, he said that “The stunt crew all stay at that hotel. I was swimming laps one early evening and the sister of one of my stunt doubles and her friend showed up at the pool. I did not invite them. They swam around and I finished my laps and went up to my room alone. Period. You don’t know me, but I am not a liar. Thirty minutes later there was a knock at my door and her friend was there and asked to come in. She came in and we fooled around but no intercourse. She left about 1/2 hour later. I honestly did not know she was 17.Tattoos, and yes, pretty. When I found out I was devastated. I also checked with the local laws and found out 16 was the consensual age. It bothered me for years. Yes all was consensual.”

“Yes, I absolutely almost made a huge mistake with the girl from the Wilmington shoot, as I said, I won’t lie about it,” he added.

Albert, however, says Kramer is being dishonest about several key aspects of the incident, including the girl’s age. “He’s a liar,” she told Deadline. “I’ll go toe-to-toe with him to his face. He lured the girls after we went to our rooms that night after go-karting. He’s so full of sh*t.”

Albert said in her written statement she was “furious” when she found out, a month later, about what happened. “I questioned the girl and asked her what happened. She had tears streaming down her eyes. She told me that he had sex with her. I was so angry. After I found out, I called the Wilmington Police Department to see what the law was about statutory rape. I was told that the legal age of consent in the state of N.C. was 16. “

“The next day I went to work and confronted Joel Kramer. It was just he and I in his stunt trailer and I point blank said to him: ‘I’m going to ask you one question, and if you lie to me, I am going to let the parents come in and go to the producers and let all of hell rain down on you. Did you have sex with her?’ And he said ‘Yes.’ He went on to try to vindicate himself, but it was too late. I said to him, ‘I’m not going to go back to LA and talk about this, but if I am asked, I am not going to lie for you.’ And that is how I still feel today.”

Her account is supported by a stuntman on the film who was then just breaking into the business. “I was told by Laura and her sister that Joel had sex with a 16-year-old girl, and to me that was morally wrong,” he told Deadline, asking that his name not be used. “It wasn’t right. So I said to Laura, ‘We gotta do something.’ So we called the police and they informed Laura that 16 was the legal age of consent.”

“It might be legal,” he told Deadline, “but as a moral issue, it’s gross. I was just grossed out by the situation. I told who I could tell, but nothing happened. I spoke to a couple of the older stuntmen, and they said they didn’t think it was right either. So the question is: Did the studio production system fail this girl, or was it the legal system? Or both?”

He said he never spoke to Kramer about it. “I was a brand new stunt guy and he was my boss. He was the biggest stunt coordinator in the business. Joel was powerful and could affect people’s careers, and did.”

He said he is speaking out in support of all the women in the industry who have come forward with tales of being sexually harassed and abused. “Back then, nobody was questioning it. But now that all these women have stepped up and taken a stand, it’s empowering. I don’t know if it’s going to matter in the courts, but in the court of public opinion, that’s what’s going to matter here.”

Said Albert: “It is with great compassion for the victims of Joel Kramer that I am compelled to tell the truth about what happened on the set of Virus in 1997. I stood up against this 20 years ago, when nothing was done about it, and I still stand up against it today.”

“The saddest part of this whole thing,” she said, “is that when I read the story of Eliza Dushku, this is exactly the same scenario as what happened in North Carolina.”

Dushku claims Kramer sexually assaulted her in Miami when she was 12 after taking a swim in his hotel pool during a break in production of True Lies. Kramer has flatly denied the allegation. “These are outlandish, manipulated lies,” he told Deadline. “I never sexually molested her. I’m sick to my stomach. It’s not true. I think she’s making this up in her imagination. This is all lies. Lies, lies, lies. This is just crazy. I treated her like a daughter. We all looked out for her.”

Dushku’s account is supported by her mother, her brother, her former agent, a longtime friend and her legal guardian at the time Sue Booth-Forbes, who told Deadline she “reported Joel Kramer’s inappropriate sexual behavior towards 12-year-old Eliza to a person in authority.”

Jamie Lee Curtis, who co-starred in the film, says Dushku “shared that story with me privately a few years ago. I was shocked and saddened then and still am today.” The film’s director, James Cameron, said he only learned of the incident after Dushku posted it on Facebook. Schwarzenegger has not commented.

Another stunt woman, meanwhile, has also come forward with a claim that Kramer sexually assaulted her in the late 1970s or early ’80s. The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, wasn’t sure of the exact date, but said it was a few years after she’d entered the business. She alleges the assault happened one night in the San Fernando Valley after she and a group of stunt people had gotten together for a drink.

“It was then decided to go to a different place,” she told Deadline. “It was also suggested that we car-pool due to parking. I ended up in Joel Kramer’s vehicle. Other than I knew him by face, we had never worked together, he had never hired me, and we were not dating – nor was I looking to date him. It was just a group of stunt people getting together.

“When I got into Joel’s vehicle, instead of driving me to the other place, he drove us up into the hills on the south side of Ventura Boulevard into a quiet residential area. He pulled his vehicle over, unzipped his pants, pulled out his penis. He grabbed me by the back of my head and forced my face down onto his penis and came in my mouth. He then released my head and cleaned himself up. I must have as well. I really don’t remember if he gave me tissues. I cannot remember if words were exchanged of any type, but he did drive me to the other place, where the group had gone.”

She never told anyone of the incident, but decided to speak up after reading about Dushku going public with what he’d allegedly done to her. “I did not tell anyone, because I was frightened, scared and ashamed. I also knew that if I were to report this to the stunt group, the police or SAG, I would have no chance in a career as a stunt woman.”

Kramer called the allegation a “fabrication,” saying he never forced himself on anyone. “It saddens me that now people will use me as their target of opportunity. Please do not take these at face value. I am sorry for this witch hunt.”

He added: “I have been upfront and truthful on all facets. I am not this damned A-hole the media and others portrays me as. I am so depressed and shocked over all of this. There’s nothing I can say or do that many just want to chastise myself and kick me to the curb. We all make mistakes, but do I have to pay dearly for those that are not of my doing?”

Holy shit........he had sex with a 16 year old when he was 40 because she was "legal"???? I don't care wtf the consenting age is, if you are not a teenager you should not be having sex with teenagers.

Jesus fucking christ, every single person in this business in authority is a statutory rapist and a pedophile.

I wonder how many other women are going to come forward with stories about Kramer taking them swimming before luring him up to his hotel room when they were underage. The story on the Virus set sounds identical to what Eliza said he did during True Lies.

The star tweeted out emphatically that had he known about the incident at the time he "would have done something."

The action star, who toplined James Cameron's 1994 action thriller, tweeted on Monday evening that had he known about the incident at the time "you bet your ass all of us would have done something." Schwarzenegger also tweeted his support to and expressed his pride in Dushku, who played his daughter in the film, for coming forward.

Tom, you bet your ass all of us would have done something. I’m shocked and saddened for Eliza but I am also proud of her - beyond being a great talent and an amazing woman, she is so courageous. https://t.co/EJJbkdior2— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 16, 2018

Schwarzenegger's tweet was in response to one from castmate Tom Arnold, who had written that the actors and director Cameron would have done something had they known about the alleged assault.

Dushku on Saturday accused True Lies stunt coordinator Joel Kramer of assault in a lengthy Facebook post. The actress claimed she was "sexually molested" by the then-36-year-old after he "lured" her to his hotel room during production. Dushku was 12 at the time.

Since the allegations became public, True Lies star Jamie Lee Curtis wrote an essay for the Huffington Post addressing the subject. "We have all started to awaken to the fact that the terrible abuses now commonplace in daily news reports have been going on for a very long time. Unconscionably, those reports frequently come along with claims by the perpetrators that, as adults, those perpetrated against had some part in it. Eliza's story has now awakened us from our denial slumber to a new, horrific reality. The abuse of children," the actress wrote.

Cameron has also publicly commented on the allegations. Speaking at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour to support AMC's Visionaries: James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction, he said, "Eliza is very brave for speaking up. I think all the women are that are speaking up and calling for a reckoning now. I think this has been endemic throughout human systems, not just Hollywood."

Added Cameron, "Because Hollywood deals with women who are victims 10-15-20 years ago who are famous today, so they get to have a louder voice when they come forward. Bravo for them for doing it and I'm glad Eliza did that. It's just heartbreaking that it happened to her."

If only any of the many people who did know about it, had ever bothered to talk to Arnold after nothing happened when they reported it to the "proper authorities" and the predator himself which then allowed him to break Eliza's ribs in retaliation.

In the wake of sexual assault allegations against Master of None star Aziz Ansari, HLN host Ashleigh Banfield had some brutally honest words for Ansari’s accuser on Monday.

In a Jan. 13 article on Babe.net, 23-year-old photographer Grace (an alias) detailed a date with Ansari that ended in an uncomfortable — and by her account, nonconsensual — sexual encounter with the actor. After the article was published, Ansari said in a statement that “it was true that everything did seem okay to me, so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned. I took her words to heart and responded privately after taking the time to process what she had said.”

On Monday’s broadcast of her HLN program Crime & Justice, Banfield addressed Ansari’s accuser with an open letter, criticizing her for putting Ansari in the same category as men like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey.

“You had a bad date. Your date got overly amorous,” Banfield began. “After protesting his moves, you did not get up and leave right away. You continued to engage in the sexual encounter. By your own clear description, this was not a rape, nor was it a sexual assault. By your description, your sexual encounter was unpleasant.”

Banfield, looking incredulous, continued by asking Grace what she had hoped to accomplish by going public with this story.

“I have to ask you, what exactly was your beef? That you had a bad date with Aziz Ansari?” she asked. “Is that what victimized you to the point of seeking a public conviction and a career-ending sentence against him? Is that what you truly thought he deserved for your night out?”

Banfield concluded by acknowledging the #MeToo movement, which she said has taken a hit because of Grace’s “reckless and hollow” accusations against Ansari.

“You have chiseled away at a movement that I, along with all of my other sisters in the workplace, have been dreaming of for decades,” she said. “A movement that has finally changed an oversexed professional environment that I, too, have struggled through at times over the last 30 years in broadcasting… I hope the next time you go on a bad date, you stand up sooner, you smooth out your dress and you bloody well leave. Because the only sentence that a guy like that deserves is a bad case of blue balls, not a Hollywood blackball.”

It was inevitable. Especially when it offers someone the chance to get in the spotlight. That's why they're there. That's why they're trying to date celebs. Attention.

It's absolutely no surprise in this day and age. Someone regretting a decision they made after the fact, and turning it around and calling it harassment or misconduct. You made a conscious decision. Regretted it the next morning/year. Deal with it. It's the equivalent of someone trying to sue McDonald's because they got fat.

Worst part of it is, because of people like her, and because people are arseholes, it will dilute the words and stories of those who were legitimately assaulted to the general public, which in turn will make less people believe them, thus making them not want to come forward because no one will listen or do anything - which was half the fucking problem in the first place. People are cunts.

Aziz Ansari notably did not attend the 2018 Screen Actors Guild Awards, but his presence was definitely felt Sunday night during the announcement of the nominees for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.

Aziz Ansari did not attend the 2018 Screen Actors Guild Awards, but his presence was definitely felt Sunday night during the announcement of the nominees for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.

When Ansari’s name was called, there was a notable lack of applause. No time was allotted for applause, either.

Ansari won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy just two weeks ago.

Earlier this month, an unnamed woman accused the 34-year-old comedian and actor of aggressive sexual coercion in an article published on Babe.net. Ansari responded to the claims made in the piece by stating that he believed the interaction to be “completely consensual” and that he has taken the accuser’s “words to heart and responded privately.”

Ansari was nominated for his role on the Netflix series “Master of None” and was the sole nominee — of a category that included fellow nominees Anthony Anderson, Larry David, Sean Hayes, William H. Macy and Marc Maron — to not receive applause.

The award ultimately went to William H. Macy for his role in “Shameless,” but many on Twitter were quick to note the lack of applause, and the actor’s notable absence.

Ansari’s rep did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.